Lawmaker Runs Bill to Bring Electronic Enticing of Minors Up-to-Date

None by Elizabeth Ziegler

Adds Text Messaging to List of Crimes

(KCPW News) The increasing use of text messaging by sexual predators prompted Representative Kerry Gibson to run a bill to give law enforcement another tool to protect children. Gibson's bill makes it a crime to entice a minor with text messages to engage in unlawful sexual acts.

"It's become more and more of a problem as text messaging has become the way that our young people communicate nowadays," Gibson says.

A law already exists to prosecute adults who contact children over the Internet for sexual purposes. Gibson says his bill brings the law up-to-date with current technology.

"Technology is changing. It's rapidly changing," Gibson says. "And we need the ability to prosecute criminals who target our young people."

It took only 5 minutes for the House Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Committee to consider Gibson's bill before voting unanimously in favor of passing it forward to the full House. Click here for a link to the bill.

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